Here is an announcement from Stepping Up about a grant program to reduce the number of people with serious mental illness in jail. The Dane County government and Journey Mental Health appear to be eligible for funding.
The U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs-Bureau of Justice Assistance seeks applications for funding for The Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program (JMHCP). The JMHCP supports cross-system collaboration to improve responses and outcomes for people who have mental illnesses or co-occurring substance use disorders who come into contact with the criminal justice system. This grant program provides awards ranging between $100,000 and $750,000 for a 12- to 36-month project period to states, units of local governments, federally recognized Indian tribal governments, and state-county authorized mental health authorities.

There are three grant categories:Category 1: Collaborative County Approaches to Reducing the Prevalence of Individuals with Serious Mental Illnesses in Jails
Category 2: Strategic Planning for Law Enforcement and Mental Health Collaboration
Category 3: Implementation and Expansion

The deadline to apply is May 29.

Register for Webinar about This Funding Opportunity
The Council of State Governments Justice Center, with funding support from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance, will be hosting a webinar to provide guidance on how to respond to this solicitation on Tuesday, May 8 from 2-3:30 p.m.

Click here for the announcement, including links for more information and registration.

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Important efforts by two dissimilar leaders in Wisconsin show emerging attention to the problems caused by childhood and other trauma.

In March, Marquette University President Mike Lovell issued an invitation to community groups to submit proposals to work with the university to address problems of trauma. In November, he had hosted an “Epidemic of Trauma Conference.” Here is an excerpt for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel‘s article.

” Lovell predicts [the proposals are] almost certain to include treatment for neurological trauma — a condition that exists on an epidemic level in Milwaukee, where children in some districts routinely are exposed to homicide, neglect, abuse, violence, incarceration, alcohol and drugs as well as gunfire and police sirens, statistics show. Widespread trauma, in turn, worsens the ongoing social crisis in a city that for decades has defined the national extremes of poverty, unemployment, incarceration, infant mortality and broken homes…”

Click here to read details about his announcement and the problems in Milwaukee.

First Lady Tonette Walker aims to make Wisconsin the first “fully trauma-informed” state in the nation. Her op ed describes progress at the Menominee Nation and her understanding of the harm caused by early trauma. Here is an excerpt from her piece.

“We’ve made significant progress in other areas of our state as well, like in state government. Already, six Wisconsin agencies, including the Department of Health Services, Department of Veterans Affairs, Department of Workforce Development, Department of Children and Families, Department of Corrections, and Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation are implementing trauma-informed Care principles within their interactions with each other, as well as in the services they provide to the people of our state.

UPDATE: The MJS published an article describing an enthusiastic response by a broad spectrum of Milwaukee residents to Lovell’s proposals. Click here to read the article.

Here is an excerpt.

“More than two dozen community organizations have expressed interest in the effort, along with 18 academics. And a wide range of community activists have been attending meetings to learn more and plant the seeds of collaboration.

“There’s tremendous interest in the community,” Mike Lovell said.

Lovell wants to organize a major conference in late September, bring together as many national trauma researchers and local activists as possible, maybe even rent the new Milwaukee Bucks arena as a venue.

“This has got to get really big,” said Franklin Cumberbatch, a member of Lovell’s steering committee and executive at Milwaukee-based Bader Philanthropies.”

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On October 25 at 5:30 in room 354 of the City/County Building, Supervisor Heidi Wegleitner will present budget amendments to benefit human services at the Health and Human Needs Committee. Here are the items.

Other related amendments
HHN-O-01 (Levin)
Increase expenditures by $30,000 to expand HUD coordinated entry to areas outside the City of Madison.

HHN-O-07 (Wegleitner)
Increase operating expenditures by $300,000 to provide one buss passes for some of the 22,227 SNAP case units.

HHN-O-08 (Wegleitner)
At the end of fiscal year 2018, any surplus of deficit of general purpose revenue in the Human Services Fund, net of any deficit or surplus in the Badger Prairie Fund, shall be retained in the Human Services Fund. Any surplus will be applied in fiscal year 2019 to support programs of the Human Services Department. Only by a 2/3 vote of the County Board may surplus funds from the Human Services Reserve Fund be appropriated for other purposes.

HHN-C-01 (Wegleitner)
Increase expenditures and borrowing proceeds by $8,000,000 for planning and development of one or more 24/7 community-based crisis, assessment, and resource centers focused on supporting persons in the community, and diverting persons with mental health, substance abuse, or developmental disability issues who have contact with law enforcement from being arrested and/or admitted to
the County jail.

NOTE: Annually, approximately $6 million is transferred from the Human Services Fund to other areas of the Dane County budget. The sheriff’s department often is the recipient. The proposed budget amendment would keep any surplus in the Human Services Reserve Fund unless 2/3 of the county board approve a transfer.

UPDATE: The amendment for planning and development of community-based crisis, assessment and resource centers failed. An amendment for $40,000 for bus passes passed.

Alds. Cheeks, Phair, Eskrich and Clear announced interest in a crisis/restoration center at a press conference on Monday. Click here to read Dean Mosiman’s account in the Wisconsin State Journal.

Here is the excerpt from the article:

“[Madison] should work with Dane County and others to explore a Restoration Center, which would be an alternative for individuals who otherwise would be arrested or taken to the hospital because of behavior, intoxication and/or mental health problems.

The latter effort, based on a facility in San Antonio, could be funded by local governments, Medicaid, health insurers, private sponsors and other sources, Phair said.”

MOSES, an interfaith organization, has advocated for a crisis center for more than two years. The League of Women Voters of Dane County testified in favor of such a center at a recent committee meeting of the Dane County Board of Supervisors.

Read “Funding Mental Health Services Can Pay off for the Taxpayers, as well as the Beneficiaries” on this blog for more information about how a center would operate and be funded.

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Community Treatment Alternatives (CTA) was the first program in the country to offer Assertive Community Treatment in a jail diversion program. Offered at the Journey Mental Health Center, CTA provides highly individualized and intensive mental health services to each client from a multi-disciplinary team.

CTA claims a stellar reputation among mental health advocates and professionals. MOSES, the most persistent advocate for more jail diversion efforts, recommended an increase of 20 slots in the program. The Diversions Task Force, appointed by the Dane County Board of Supervisors, concurred. Funds for an additional 15 slots are included in the county’s 2017 budget.

Dave Delap, the program’s long-time director, has been paying close attention to recent discussions about jail diversion. Like other advocates, he believes that portions of the jail are inhumane, unsafe, and in need of replacement. But, along with those advocates, he thinks more could be done to promote jail diversion by expanding mental health services.

Delap said, “I was dumbfounded when Lynn Green, director of the Department of Health and Human Services, claimed, ‘No one is in jail because of lack of capacity for community mental health programs for jail diversion.'”

That remark was part of Green’s presentation to the June 6 joint meeting of two county board committees about jail diversion programs. Delap also was disappointed that the statement went unquestioned by committee members. (See Voices from the Front Line on this blog for more information about the meeting.)

Jail administrator Richelle Anhalt reported that 29 percent of the inmates were on psychotropic medication and 107 of them were termed as “special needs for mental health.” In a later statement, using figures from the jail, Lindsay Wallace of NAMI-Dane estimated that 700 people could be diverted from the jail each year if appropriate mental health services were available. (Producing an accurate count of the number of people in jails and prisons with mental illness is a contentious issue throughout the country.)

Delap has some common sense suggestions about how to increase jail diversion that result from his long experience at CTA. Flexibility and a variety of approaches are important. People with mental illness who could benefit from jail diversion vary as much as other people with mental illness.

More flexibility in the criminal justice system itself could promote diversion. Delap pointed out that Correct Care Solutions, which screens people for mental health problems when they enter the jail, is not funded to screen for the possibility of diversion. He advocates screening at many points throughout the system: before arrest, after arrest but before sentencing; at sentencing, and as an alternative to revocation of parole or probation.

Instead of another increase in CTA’s slots, Delap recommends adding a short-term program for people who have been diverted from the jail. Staff would work closely with them for six to eight months. After the person is stabilized and their long-term treatment needs understood, he or she could be enrolled in a program offering appropriate help.

Delap’s suggestions about multiple points for screening are consistent with the views of MOSES and other organizations that have argued for a crisis restoration center to which police could take people for assessment and short-term treatment instead of a jail booking. He noted that Journey operates a hospital diversion program that might be enhanced to meet the needs of jail diversion. Opponents and county officials have pointed out the need for a secure facility. That problem has been resolved in other communities.

Finding the money is an immediate and perpetual issue. About funding, Delap also has the benefit of many years of experience. He said that between 2003 and 2016, county funding directed to mental health services did not increase, despite the increase in inflation and population. Inflation alone brought about a decrease of approximately 25 percent in real dollars for mental health services.

Delap said, “The annual transfer of approximately $6 million from the budget of the Department of Health and Humans Services to the General Fund is appalling in these circumstances.”

Check back to learn about progress in a campaign to address mental health funding in Dane County.

The Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance is seeking applications for the Second Chance Act Reentry Program for Adults with Co-Occurring Substance Use and Mental Disorders. This program provides resources to state, local, and tribal governments to establish or enhance the provision of treatment to adults to facilitate successful reintegration of individuals returning from incarceration to their communities. Applications are due March 14, 2017.